Lokimotive Engineer
by Amberleaf le Haunt
Summary: Loki is back on Earth, but this time, not with the intention of wreaking havoc. Well... not much, anyway. As it turns out, the Avengers actually need his help in matters concerning world security. Loki/Tony. FrostIron.
1. Chapter 1

Lokimotive Engineer

**Hey hey hey, you guys! ^_^; Yeah, it's been a while, but I have finally got a new story for ya! :) Yep, so, this is an Avengers fanfic, haha. I have never actually watched the Avengers, although I've watched both ****_Thor_**** and ****_Iron Man_**** so I might be horribly wrong and off about some things, but please bear with me, hehe! ^_^;**

**Yeah, this will be a FrostIron story! :3 I really really REALLY love the pairing of FrostIron at the moment, so get ready for this one! :D Haha, it'll be slightly cutesy, probably, I'm guessing, and also there will be no hardcore smut in here, because I'm not really into writing that kind of stuff anymore... but, still, I'm sure that it'll be absolutely ****_great_****! :D**

**I know a little bit about train operations, but not actually too much. XD Let's just pretend that Canadian Pacific (herein known as CP, or CP Rail) runs in the area around New York City, yeah? Yeah. Good.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything in this Marvelous universe! (I'm pretty sure I just ripped that sentence off of somebody else... hehe! XD)**

* * *

"Aww, hell! Why do _we_ have to be the one driving the dangerous goods train?" A loud, irritated voice broke through Loki's concentration, interrupting his thoughts.

"Yes?" he asked, bringing his head up sharply to meet the eyes of the short conductor with the scruffy brown hair whom he was scheduled to be working with today. Being a relatively new locomotive engineer in the area meant he hadn't met this particular conductor yet, although the fact that he was just out of training probably didn't exactly help. "What is wrong with that?"

"Just..." The conductor couldn't hide his frustration. "We'll probably be under slow orders!"

"Yes. What about it?" Loki was trying his best to hide his frustration at this conductor who obviously hadn't bothered to learn that driving a train was sometimes slow, tedious, and stressful and dangerous work, as it would be today. Having been a locomotive engineer for two years already meant that he had worked dangerous trains many times. He himself didn't mind it, patient as he was.

"Well, it's SLOW!" the conductor burst out. Loki just sighed.

"Yes. Is that a problem?" he asked stiffly.

"Well..." The conductor shrunk under Loki's withering glare. "No..."

"Good." Loki turned to cast a careless glance away from his papers and towards the lead locomotive of the train they'd be driving. _CP 8813._ He grinned. This locomotive had a great horn and it was one of his favourites. Despite the fact that it was extremely rare to see the same engine more than once within a period of a few years, in just two years he had already driven it twice. It was nice to see that he'd get the chance to do so again.

"This locomotive sucks," the conductor muttered suddenly under his breath, but Loki caught the remark anyway and sharply turned his head towards the conductor.

"Well, _I_ don't think so," he retorted sharply, trying to keep his cool although the other man was currently irritating him to no end. Loki strongly wished at the moment that he could just magic some sense into the man, but that could possibly draw SHIELD's attention to him and he most certainly didn't want that.

His hand automatically reached into his right front pocket and he unconsciously fingered the small gold locket at the bottom. At the moment, it stored the majority of his magic so that it was accessible to him should he ever need it—although he certainly no longer planned to use it for malicious purposes—and it had an anti-tracing spell on it that protected him from SHIELD and even Heimdall.

He jerked his thoughts back to the present as he added, "And I quite like the horn. Now, go and inspect your train and I'll be waiting for you inside the cab."

He shrugged his leather black jacket higher up on his shoulders and zipped it up as he walked towards the engine, and then he grabbed the railings flanking the stairs as he pulled himself up onto the small walkway running along 8813's side. He walked slowly along the side of the engine and then headed into the cab when he had ensured that the conductor was, indeed, doing his job. Once he was inside, he sat down in his seat on the right side of the cab and let out a small, irritated huff. He checked his iPhone for the time, and then checked the papers once again.

_11:45 AM,_ the on-screen clock read. He frowned. They had been supposed to leave the yard at 11:30, which was approximately fifteen minutes earlier. Trains often ran late, but he usually rather preferred to be on time.

His scowl only deepened as he thought, _No doubt the conductor is trying his best to make my life difficult._

The conductor appeared five or ten minutes later, Loki wasn't really sure, and threw himself down into his seat with a sigh. Loki eyed him suspiciously.

"Are you quite done inspecting the train?" he wanted to know.

"Yes." The conductor glowered. "What's it to you?"

"Are the air brakes hooked up?"

That gave the conductor pause. "Oh. No."

Inwardly, Loki screamed, _You're so incompetent and you could have us both killed_! But all he did was snap, "Well, go hook them up, then! And do it properly!" Something in his tone must have scared the conductor, who went scrambling out of his seat and apparently couldn't get out of the cab fast enough.

Loki just frowned, his eyes narrowing, and let out a sharp, audible puff of air through his nose. The conductor was merely out of training. He couldn't help it. _He couldn't…_

Yeah, that was a lie.

Just as Loki was wondering how this conductor ever _got_ out of training if he couldn't even properly remember how to hook up the air brakes without help, the conductor came quietly back into the cab and lowered himself slowly back down into his seat, glowering over the console at Loki.

When Loki spoke, he was surprised to find his voice much, in a way, gentler than he thought it could be at this moment.

"Come on. Let's go." He couldn't help the way his voice sounded resigned, sort of; he couldn't help the way that he almost sounded _weak_.

Weak meant forgiving. Accepting. Acting like the conductor wasn't a total idiot for acting like such a stupid moron who only wanted the easy, fast jobs and couldn't even remember to hook up the air brakes _when there were lives on the line_.

But there was really no place for that here, he reminded himself resignedly, letting out a silent sigh as he pushed on the throttle and looked forward and the train started to move.

* * *

Tony Stark was drinking.

Well, not much. But Pepper didn't really approve of him drinking when he was supposed to be signing papers.

"Will you please put that down?" the pretty blonde-haired woman asked him, sounding slightly impatient.

"What?" Although it had only been five seconds, he had already gotten lost in his thoughts and it took him a moment to remember where he was. Pepper's eyes narrowing at him gave him the mental jolt he needed. "Ohh, right, the drink. Yeah…" He set the half-full glass down carefully on the table and cleared his throat. "Now. What else did you need me to sign?"

Pepper wordlessly handed him a piece of paper, which he quickly read over and then scrawled his signature onto at the bottom.

This continued on for a short time, and when he was finally free he quickly escaped to his lab and busied himself with working on the latest improvements for the Iron Man suit.

"I wonder how Loki's doing," he allowed himself to wonder idly as he worked. His mind had wandered while he worked, and now he had turned to thinking about the destruction that the black-haired god had caused a few years earlier. He never actually bothered to remember how long ago it was; that wasn't to say that he had gotten over it, but there were other, more important things in his life to worry about now and he simply couldn't be fussed to worry about things that had happened years prior.

And that was when JARVIS dropped the bombshell on him.

"At the mention of his name, I ran some scans, sir, and Loki is currently here on Earth. In fact, he is not too far from here and currently works as a train operator and locomotive engineer for Canadian Pacific under the name of Loki 'Lukas' Markson."

Tony just choked. On the air.

"What?!"

* * *

**Thanks for reading, m'dears! :3 It is much appreciated, hehe! ^_^; Now, then... :P**

**Please, review? :) I would absolutely ****_love_**** to know what you think about this! Thanks! :)**

**Can you guess how JARVIS figured out that Loki was here on Earth? ;)**


	2. Chapter 2

**Lokimotive Engineer: Chapter 2**

**Aaand here's Chapter 2 of Lokimotive Engineer! :3 Enjoooooy! :'DDD**

**Disclaimer: Don't own anything. Yep, it's sadly true.**

* * *

Once Tony had reacquired his ability to speak—honestly, not much made him speechless, but for some reason this did—he croaked out, "Where, JARVIS?"

"Well, sir, it would appear that Loki left the CP Rail Maple Yard on Wind Street just under ten minutes ago, operating a dangerous goods train."

"Hold on a second, _what_? Are you telling me—" Tony almost couldn't believe it. _A dangerous goods train._ The guy had thrown him out a window once; surely he wouldn't hesitate to blow up a long train possibly carrying explosives or whatever in an area where it would hurt the most! However, he shook his head, calming his thoughts, and just then something else occurred to him. "How long has Loki been working for Canadian Pacific, JARVIS?"

"Approximately three years, sir. He has been a locomotive engineer for approximately twenty-three months now," the AI replied.

Quickly thinking that over, Tony nodded. "Yeah, okay, so he's been driving the trains for almost two years now. So he would have had plenty of time to kill people before. So why didn't he?"

"I do not know, sir. All I know is that he has a clean record, although…" The AI paused then, seemingly for dramatic effect. "…His trains have hit a lot of cows."

Tony snickered. "Yeah, that sounds like our beloved Reindeer Games, all right. Now… How are we coming along on that new train technology?"

He had been working on a new type of technology for the transportation companies that would make the train yards faster and more efficient. This would enable more trains to run on time, as things would be done properly more often and also in an easier and more organized fashion. He had originally been going to present it at the CSX Transportation Deerhorn yard just the next week.

However, now that he knew about this he _really_ wanted to find out more about Loki and what he was doing—he only figured that it was his duty, as an Avenger—so there would be a change of plans. He was almost done, really, so he figured that presenting it a little sooner than was originally planned wouldn't be a problem.

After all, when Tony Stark was involved, what could possibly go wrong?

"JARVIS? Call Pepper and tell her that we're going to the CP Rail Maple Yard on Monday! We need three days to demonstrate the technology, sooo… tell her to book it at the same time each day. Oh, yeah, don't tell her why," Tony quickly added, almost as an afterthought. _Today is Wednesday, so I should be able to get it done by then._

"Already on it, sir," JARVIS informed him.

"Thanks; you're the best!"

"I should certainly hope so, sir. After all, you are my creator!" the AI replied in a seriously sarcastic tone. If the computer had had a face and could have smirked, he would have done so right then.

Tony chuckled, smirking himself. "That is true. Thanks for the praise, JARVIS."

* * *

They were only two hours into their eight hour ride, and already Loki was getting annoyed with this conductor's presence. He was either negative and unhelpful, or he glared out the front window.

Finally, at some point around two in the afternoon, he spoke.

"I don't really like this engine," he admitted.

Loki raised his eyebrows. "So you've said," he remarked. "But why?" The conductor finally seemed to be acting at least somewhat agreeable, although he didn't count on it lasting.

"Well, these types of engines are very common!" the conductor informed him, his tone of voice betraying the fact that he thought very highly of himself and that, at the moment, he was absolutely thrilled at the thought that he seemingly finally had Loki cowed.

_Over this?_ Loki wondered, turning away from the conductor for a moment and rolling his eyes so that he couldn't see.

When he turned back to the conductor, he asked him, "Yes? How exactly?" though he already knew. Best humour this man a little longer. He was going to pay for it later, anyway. Loki inwardly chuckled slightly at the thought of the havoc—harmless, but still—that he was going to wreak on this guy's life later on.

"Well, these and a bunch of the other engine numbers, well, they're all the same! They don't differ from each other, really, and _no_ railfan wants to catch them when they're out filming. A railfan is—"

Loki cut him off. "I do, in fact, know what a railfan is. And I do not see why it should matter so much. A train is still a train, is it not? Can you really say that you love trains if you only want to see the rare lash-ups? I would imagine that you get praise from your railfanning buddies when you catch the rare ones, yes? So maybe you don't really like trains at all. Perhaps I could say that you only like the praise you get for catching the rare ones, so that is why you do it, especially if you get so… what is the word?... yes, moody, when you are forced to see or work a common engine." He raised his eyebrows at the conductor, who looked slightly shocked. _Good._ "Well, am I right?"

"No—no way!" the man spluttered. Loki was about to make some snide retort and then realized that he had never bothered to learn the conductor's name. He spotted the train papers in the conductor's hand and gestured towards them.

"Give me those papers," he ordered. The conductor cast him a suspicious look but handed over the papers anyway.

"I see. Your name is Mark Whineson," Loki remarked, scanning over the papers quickly and looking for the conductor's name at the top. _How very fitting,_ he thought to himself. _Because he _whines_._

"I already know your name," Whineson commented, a slight tone of superiority tainting his voice. _Boastful bastard._ "Lukas Markson, eh?"

"Just call me Luke," Loki told him nonchalantly, not looking at the conductor as he read over all the train details again. Suddenly, as he realized that the conductor's eyes were still upon him, he jerked his head up and flashed a positively lethal smile in his direction that he hoped—or, rather, _knew_—put a terrifying expression on his face. "Or Loki."

The conductor's eyes widened slightly, but, to his credit, he didn't look _too_ afraid. Loki had to grudgingly give him kudos for that one.

"Luke. Or Loki," he repeated, seemingly testing out both names. "Right. Well, I like Luke better."

Loki personally quite preferred, you know, _Loki_, but he had long since figured out that the conductor was just trying to be difficult in almost everything he did, and he didn't want to say anything more. He didn't really feel like spending the next six hours trying to deal with the fallout from any kind of fuss the conductor might raise.

"Okay then, _Mark_," he replied in the most condescending tone he could manage—and, trust me, Loki does condescending _amazingly_—raising both eyebrows slightly and then returning to glancing out the train's windows for the '_W_' sign that would tell him he needed to start whistling before a level crossing.

Whineson was silent after that.


	3. Chapter 3

**Jesus, I am SO sorry that I haven't updated! D': I've just been kind of lazy... Yeah... _; Although this was actually written and finished up about a month ago, hahaha! :P But I have like absolutely NO muse, ugh. _; le bleh xD;**

**Well, anyways. :'3 Enjoy Chapter 3! :'DDD**

**Disclaimer: I don't need one! xD;**

**Tony: Because you're just so great? No, _I'm_ the badass one around here.**

**Loki: [sighs]**

**xD; /i'mridiculousiknow:P**

* * *

Chapter 3

Monday came quickly for Tony. He passed the time by working basically nonstop from Wednesday night to Sunday morning. At 7:30 AM Sunday morning ("7:31 and-five-seconds AM specifically, sir," JARVIS took care to inform him), Pepper came to the door of his lab and demanded he stop working now. He obliged rather grudgingly. Admittedly he had been done by Saturday afternoon, and had been working on other things, but, hey, it was the _principle_ of the thing...

Tony sighed and checked the mirror one last time before heading downstairs.

* * *

_Twenty five hours and forty minutes earlier…_

Loki had already been up for 20 long minutes when a call to his cell phone at exactly 6:50 AM startled him.

He reached over with a groan to retrieve the iDevice where it lay obnoxiously ringing on the bedside table, making a mental note to himself not to set the ringtone so _loud_. It was quite annoying to be blasted with the rude notes of Beyonce's _Single Ladies_ at this ungodly hour of the morning.

He reflected on all this as he hit the onscreen button that would allow him to accept the call and brought the sleek black iPhone up to his ear. The number was his boss from work, a guy named Thomas but who asked everybody to call him Tom as he wasn't particularly fond of the name Thomas. It sounded too formal, he insisted. Still, Loki called him by his formally given name for two reasons: One, that was just kind of his style, and two, to be contrary. It was in his nature. He wasn't called the God of Mischief for nothing!

"Yes?" he snapped crossly into his phone, although he winced when his voice came across as slightly more disagreeable than he might have liked.

"Markson," Thomas greeted him briskly. "There's a presentation tomorrow morning at 10 AM at your normal yard. I expect you to be there."

"What about?" Loki asked.

"It's a new technology that will make train operations in the yard so much easier. I want you to know how it works," Thomas explained.

"Yeah, gotcha. I'll be there," Loki assured him.

"Good," Thomas said. And then he hung up.

Loki threw his phone back on the table and let out an exasperated sigh as he flopped back into bed for ten more minutes. _I'll get up at seven…_

_Present time…_

On Monday morning, Loki got up at six thirty and was on the road by eight o'clock. He usually didn't have to come to work at the same time every day and it took him around an hour, sometimes around an hour and a half, depending on the route he took, to get there and he didn't want to be late today.

Highway traffic got him, an accident having caused massive delays, but he exited the highway at the first possible opportunity (although it took him ten minutes to even get down the exit ramp, since traffic was so congested, and all in all it took him twenty minutes to get out of the crazy traffic jams caused by the highway accident) and was there by nine thirty. He found a decent spot in the parking lot, at least somewhat close to the building, and parked the mid-sized Ford F-150 in between two Nissan sedans of different models.

He exited the pick-up truck, stepping carefully down to the ground. He shoved his iPhone so it was at the very bottom of his pocket and made sure that he had his wallet on him, and then, confident that he had everything he needed, he walked quickly into the building.

He didn't even notice the red and gold sports car with the license plate "STARK 6" parked approximately one hundred meters away from him in the other corner of the lot, next to a set of little used train tracks.

* * *

Tony finished setting up the presentation at 9:45 and watched as gruff and stony faced people came trickling into the room, slowly taking places beneath the stage. He wondered idly if people met here for events like this often, because you wouldn't necessarily expect to find a big empty spacious room with a stage in a building in a _train yard_. Maybe a school, yes. But a big place like this, where people came and went all day…? No, not really. Then again, maybe more went on behind the scenes than he knew of. He didn't really want to know.

Finally, 10 o'clock rolled around, and the presentation began.

* * *

10:00 AM. More of a time to be getting ready to step onto a train, if anything! But, no, instead Loki was forced to attend a presentation he was sure only trainmasters would find interest in. Maybe conductors and rail traffic controllers, foremen and yardsmen, but he couldn't find a reason why he would possibly be interested in _this_ kind of presentation. But, all the same, he dutifully filed into the room with a couple of his work buddies (he wasn't totally antisocial), noticing with some satisfaction Mark Whineson sulking in the corner. When he saw Loki, his glare immediately got a hundred times more intense and Loki smirked.

_Oh, if looks could kill..._

Loki turned away and followed the men he had come in with, taking a decent spot near the middle of the auditorium where he could see clearly.

There was a dark-haired man in a suit bustling around the stage behind the podium, connecting some wires together or somesuch. A moment later the screen lit up, a blank white that Loki guessed would soon have a PowerPoint presentation on it.

However… as he got a closer look at the man, he frowned. The man looked achingly familiar, even from the back. But… Loki had never met anyone like this.

And then the man turned around and stood up, smiling at the audience and raising his arms up slightly as he opened his mouth to speak, and even though the man was wearing sunglasses that goatee was disturbingly familiar and Loki's stomach involuntarily dropped and he had to fight back the shock threatening to make him sway on his feet and bring up all the contents of his stomach.

And, suddenly, he knew where he'd seen that man before.

It was Anthony Edward Stark, the genius billionaire playboy philanthropist of Stark Industries and the Avengers.

* * *

All things considered, Tony would have to say that that presentation went fairly well.

Only… he didn't see Loki anywhere.

But that was only until, of course, he did.

He spotted Loki sometime about halfway through the presentation, maybe somewhere around 10:30 AM, but by then he was so enraptured in his explanation that he hadn't felt anything more than an irritating prick of shock in his stomach that hurt but quickly came and went.

He didn't really concern himself too much more with the demigod's presence, shockingly enough, although he _did_ silently alert JARVIS when there was a lull in the speed of the talk in the presentation to the fact that, yes, Loki was in fact here and, yes, indeed, JARVIS was to keep a _very_ careful eye on him.

But he didn't really do very much during the presentation, other than just stand there, although JARVIS reported that the demigod had an elevated heart rate and he had looked a little shocked, although the AI _had_ conceded that he normally had a very white and pale complexion and that it might really not mean anything at all.

The elevated heart rate, however… _hmmm_. That was definitely something to consider- was Loki maybe _afraid_ of him?- and Tony pored over the data all neatly displayed on the holographic screen of his phone as he walked out of the building.

Just then, however, as he was barely out the door he happened to look up and _there Loki was_, walking quickly, steadily and confidently across the parking lot.

It was like nothing had even happened earlier, and, huh, well, he kind of looked a little sick back then in the auditorium. But… Tony paused for just a moment, and then suddenly took a giant leap forward to try and intercept Loki.

"Hey, Loki!" he called out, and the thin form of the god abruptly stopped, stiffened, and then five seconds later, just as Tony reached him, he turned around with a closed expression.

"Stark," he greeted tightly.

"How're ya doin'?" Tony asked, grinning broadly. To be quite honest, he was freaked out as hell about the fact that Loki was on Earth but he _really didn't seem to be doing any harm_...

"I am doing just fine, thank you," he responded coldly. "I have to head out to my car—" At this, Loki gestured with the pointy end of the key already in his right hand towards a pickup truck not too far off, parked neatly in the lot. "—to grab a few things before my shift starts."

Suddenly, an old fashioned telephone ringing sounded from inside his pocket, and Loki sighed. "Excuse me. I have to get this." He pulled an iPhone—an _iPhone_! Tony's eyes nearly bugged out of his head at the sight; he hadn't known that the demigod was even _aware_ of this type of high-end technology, let alone knew how to use it—out of his pocket with his right hand, quickly transferring the keys to his left, and held it up to his ear, wandering slightly away from Tony, closer to the pickup truck. "Yes?"

Tony knew he shouldn't, but he couldn't help eavesdropping on the conversation.

"Hi, yeah. … What?" Loki's voice sounded just a shade angrier and from the angle Tony was watching at, he could see a darkish shadow set itself slightly over the demigod's face. "No, please tell me that did not just happen. … Anyway— … I do not have _time_ for this right now, Pedro; I have to be on a train in 15 minutes. … No, I'm at work! Well, just clean up what you can, then, and I'll be back later. _Yes_, I'll pay you back for whatever expenses you might incur. _No_, I will not take your teenage daughter on a date. … For Christ's sake, Pedro, she's 15 years younger than I am! Have you no decency at _all_? … Good-bye, Pedro. I'll call you later. … No, it's just a short two hour run… _if_ everything goes well. … Yes, all right. That's good. Fine. Yes. Now I really have to go, so I'll call you back later!" Loki quickly ended the call, grumbling, and he was just in the process of shoving the superphone back into his pocket when he remembered his observer and he froze. His eyes widened as he turned back to Tony.

Tony just laughed casually and Loki's shoulders relaxed a little bit, his eyes going back to their normal size. "What was that all about?" he asked.

"Oh, my friend Pedro owns a pet shop and the other day I found a dog on the streets. It just got out of its cage and into the storeroom and ravaged the whole place. It rampaged for quite a while before Pedro managed to stop it." He grinned widely. "Admittedly, not too funny. For him, that is. _Buuut..._" He groaned as his eyes darkened. "I swear to God, that man needs a class on 'how to manage your crazy teenage daughter'. She says I am really 'hot' and tries to get me to, how do you mortals say it? Go out with her."

Tony laughed. "Well, you kind of _are_ really good-looking." And then a painful pang shock suddenly flashed through his stomach as he realized what he'd just said. And so casually, too.

A little voice in his head squeaked, _And to _Loki_, too!_

Loki, for his part, had just widened his eyes slightly and was staring at Tony in a kind of shock. "_What_ did you just say?"

Tony flashed a grin he hoped would he disarming, but in reality it just came across as being extremely awkward. "I… uhh… I said nothing?" he tried, but his voice sounded approximately three octaves higher than he would have liked.

"I said nothing," he repeated again, aware of just how pitiful it sounded to his own ears.

Something in Loki's expression closed down and he turned away from Tony, opening the truck's door and reaching across the vehicle to get something underneath the passenger seat. He took out a small bag, a backpack, really, and then he closed the driver's door once again with a slam.

"Look, I…" Tony began, reaching out to try to grab Loki's shoulder, but Loki flinched away, before shaking his head with a resigned sigh. He relaxed slightly and looked at Tony.

"No, it is okay. Being told that I look good is nothing to get angry at, after all." He flashed a charming smile, and Tony laughed.

"See, there you go! I _knew_ that you weren't all crazy," he joked, and Loki's smile looked unsure for just a moment before it faded completely. His eyes widened slightly as he checked his phone's screen.

"I must be at work _very_ soon. Goodbye, Mr. Stark," he said abruptly, turning away and walking quickly towards the building's entrance.

"Bye!" Tony called, staring after him as he left.

As soon as the demigod was out of sight, Tony pulled out his phone as he walked over to his own car.

"JARVIS? Find out where Loki's going today. We're going to follow him."


	4. Chapter 4

**Hey hey hey, you all; once again we meet! :D**

**This chapter is not very long. I'm sorry! :( Also, if you don't notice, or if you _do_ notice and are confused, I have kind of changed the location a little bit in this chapter! xD We're still assuming that it's CP, but I did some research on CSX yards and the kinds of distances that I wanted Loki's train to travel in this one, and I made them be at some _real_ CSX yards in New York City and the surrounding area. Only we're still calling them CP. Hehe. I don't really know much about trains in New York, or train operations in the US, either, for that matter (what they call "rail traffic control" here in Canada is apparently called "dispatch" in the States, so don't get too confused ;3), so please excuse my general confusing-ness with this matter! :P**

**I stayed home today, so I had some time to work on this (without getting any of my (also late) homework done for school... hahaha, oops! xD). :) I hope that you enjoy it! :D**

* * *

Chapter 4

Tony jumped into his car and, as he turned it on, a holographic screen appeared on the right side of the windshield with a map. It showed the yard, with one specific train track line glowing red, and then also showing, in blue, the route that Tony should take to get to the most convenient level crossing, which wasn't for another ten miles.

"Your map, sir," the refined British voice of the AI said as Tony cast a critical eye in the direction of the screen.

"Thanks, Jarv," he thanked the AI. "You're the best."

"I know." Tony laughed at Jarvis's snide tone as he said those two words.

He threw the car into gear and headed out of the parking lot. He had a decent amount of driving to do before he caught up to Loki.

* * *

"Dude!" The voice addressing Loki was high-pitched and excited. "You actually _spoke_ to Tony Stark?!"

"Yes, I did," Loki said stiffly.

"Wow!" It was the trainee who he was working with today. 19 and fresh out of college, he was extremely hyper and inquisitive. Always wanting to know everything was something that Loki could personally relate to from his younger years, although it was slightly annoying now.

_Only because he mentioned Stark,_ a tiny voice in his head whispered, and he almost let out a frustrated growl when he realized that it was true.

"Let's now focus on your train," he suggested gently, trying to calm down. He had a third person on board with him today, an actual conductor, and for that he had to admit that he was relieved.

"Okay!" The new conductor's name was Chris and he was fascinated by everything. It was hard not to like him.

And Loki didn't like a lot of people.

The conductor was an older guy who definitely knew what he was doing. He exited the cab and jumped down from the side of the train and onto the ground as they approached.

"Lukas," he greeted Loki, nodding at him.

"Carl." Loki grinned.

"Got the train information?" Carl asked him.

"Yes, right here." Loki pulled the folded-up sheets of paper out of his coat pocket and handed them to them. "I thought we would get the loaded oil train, number 622, but we got the stack train instead. 454," he quickly summarized as Carl skimmed over the papers.

"Here," Carl said, handing the small stack of papers to Chris, "read these over and tell me what you can deduce from that."

"Well…" Chris took a deep breath before speaking. Loki silently chuckled at that. _It's not _that_ much information, if you know how to read it._ "It's a stack train, it has 134 cars, it's a short distance train from the Oak Pointe yard, which is here, where we are, in the Bronx, to the smaller Kingston, NY rail yard… No special considerations or problems, unlikely to be any alarms, and although the train is a bit long, another train will be picking it up once we get there."

"Very good!" Carl told him, and Loki just nodded. "Yeah, the only thing that I'd add is _'There is a trainee conductor on board'_."

Chris laughed nervously. "Umm? Oops."

"No, it is nothing to worry about," Loki told him reassuringly, although Carl winked at him and he couldn't help but chuckle once more. "You'll do fine. Now, let's get on our train!"

He swung himself up first onto the little side walkway, and entered the cabin, sitting on the left side. The other two came in a few seconds later, and ten minutes later, after checking the train and explaining everything pertinent for the moment to Chris, they were good to go.

And then, they were off.

* * *

The drive wasn't an especially long one, and, once they reached Jarvis's level crossing of choice, Tony asked the aforementioned AI to find out how long it would be until the train reached them.

"Approximately ten minutes, sir. Although you might want to step away from the tracks. There is a high speed freight train about to appear from around that bend right now."

Tony looked to his right, and, sure enough, there was a rather loud and scary looking train barreling down in his direction. This was a crossing where they whistled, Tony soon found out, and he wondered if that had been part of the reason that Jarvis had chosen it. They didn't whistle at a lot of crossings, according to the information that flashed across his phone screen as he stepped back.

Yes, he was walking backwards while looking at his phone. He wasn't too worried.

The train loudly blared its horn a few more times before making the crossing. Not a big issue as Tony was already standing around ten to fifteen feet away from the tracks. Once the engine and a few oil cars had passed, about three of them on the train altogether, he turned around and headed back to his car.

After he had slid inside, he leaned over the dashboard and started messing with the touch screen glass on the right side of the windshield. Yes, only the right side had a screen; the other side was just a boring piece of glass, but Pepper hadn't allowed him to make both sides a touch screen, as "it might interfere with your driving if there's a sudden system malfunction". He was Tony Stark, and he didn't _have_ system malfunctions, but he had listened to her, and, taking her advice, did what she asked. The windshield was split perfectly down the middle into "not screen" (left) and "screen" (right). It was appropriately high tech, if he did say so himself.

"Eight minutes, sir." Tony was currently checking his Tumblr.

"Five minutes, sir." Facebook.

"Thirty seconds, sir." Tetris—"Wait, I mean, we're talking about Loki's train here, right?!"

"Why, yes, sir; indeed we are."

"Well, I don't want to miss this." He quickly swiped his finger across the screen to make the game pause with his right hand while he deftly put on his sunglasses with his left, and gracefully stepped out of his car—well, as gracefully as he could in these circumstances, anyway. He quickly sprinted around to the front of the vehicle and did his best to appear casual, leaning across the front of the sedan like he owned the place (which he kind of did, since he owned the car and all. And he was a billionaire).

Of course, the only reason he actually _could_ do that was because he was kind of short. His 5'8" wasn't really very… impressive. Or threatening, either, for that matter. But, hey, he was a billionaire, so he couldn't really be bothered about issues like that. Besides, it was quite nice to be able to lean comfortably against a short car, and—his thoughts were abruptly cut short by the whistling horn of the approaching train.

* * *

_I'm watching you. :D_

That was the message that appeared on his iPhone just a moment after it beeped. The number was identified as Tony Awesome Stark.  
He straightened up and looked around, out the window of the train. Sure enough - there was Stark, standing just outside of his car in front of the bumper and grinning up at Loki's train as it passed. He even waved.

_Of course._ He sighed.

_How did you get this number, Stark?_

He texted that back, and not 10 seconds later there was a reply.

_It's called black-hat hacking, Loki. Haven't you ever heard of it?_

_Why, yes, indeed I have. What do you want?_

_Just to see you. Okay, that sounds worse than it is. But, you know..._

Besides that, the train was moving fast and they were by now quite far away from where Stark had been standing.

Loki just had one question, however.

_I am curious. Why haven't you sounded the alarm for the other Avengers yet?_

_How do you know I haven't?_

Loki flinched when he read that. Still. He picked up the phone in steadier hands to bring it closer to his face and quickly typed out, _Good point._ He felt that right now it was probably in his best interest if he conceded.

_Naw, I haven't, but I knew you were here._

That gave Loki pause. _Really? And why didn't you...?_ He figured he probably didn't need to finish the sentence.

He didn't.

_Because you honestly didn't seem to be doing any harm. And, anyway, I was curious!_

Loki couldn't resist replying, _After the fact that I threw you out a window all those years ago? One might really expect a human such as you to be more careful, or are you really as self-destructive as you seem?_

_Nahh. :) I just am that way!_

_I am fairly sure that is not proper grammar._

_Grammar Nazi - er - god…_

Loki grinned, but just then a call came in from RTC. Carl quickly glanced over at Loki, who nodded, and then picked up the radio transmitter.

"Rail traffic control to 8698."

"Yes, this is 8698. To rail traffic control," he added quickly, as if it were an afterthought.

"Are you the engineer of this train?" came the reply.

"No, but he's sitting right here."

"I need to speak with him," stated the person on the other end of the radio.

Loki sighed, and picked up the receiver on his side of the cab, his earlier conversation with Stark pushed completely off to the back of his mind as he now focused on his work.

* * *

**Hope you liked it! :D And what do you think Tony's current feelings are for Loki? How about _Loki's_ feelings for _Tony_? I'd say that Tony probably definitely likes him, but he just hasn't realized it yet, and won't for another long while. ;) As for Loki, though... hahaha, I have absolutely _NO_ idea! xD;_  
_**

**If you feel like it, then, please, review! :)**

**Review Replies:**

**CHAPTER 1**

**Ordis: Hahaha, yeah. xD; And he's Tony freaking Stark. Why would he bother to read something _before_ he signs it?! :)**

**msgone: Yeah, things are going downhill pretty quickly! LOL**

**GothChiq80: Thanks! :)**

**CHAPTER 2**

**GothChiq80: Haha, I _know_... _; He's kind of an idiot, that's for sure! :P**

**Ordis: I know, right?! :P But, hey, those cows were destined to die, anyways! ;) (I believe that the inspiration for that happening in my story happened from something in real life. I think it was around the same time. One of my train friends went out to see a train with an _amazing_ horn, but we only had one working car at the time, my mom and sister had literally _just_ gone to the store when I got his text (and, believe me, those two don't like to be interrupted while they're shopping! D':), and I can't drive on my own yet anyway, so it wouldn't have made a difference even if we _had_ had another car at the time... And then, apparently, that same train hit a cow at the crossing that I usually go to. I was like, "WHAT. It would have been SO hilarious to see that!" (I don't think he saw it either, though; he was at some crossing up north somewhere, iirc.) lol but anyway, tl;dr FML)  
**

**CHAPTER 3 **

**GothChiq80: Hahaha, thanks! :) Glad that you liked it so much! xD;**

**Adapse: Hahaha, I'm almost late SO often for school because in the morning, when I wake up, I check my emails, and sitting right there is often a lovely alert that, hey, a story that I've been following has updated, and of course I wanna read it, and, just, well...! xDDD; So, I most definitely know what you mean! :P And, yeah, I know! Such a stalker, that Stark! Ahahaha! Stalker Stark! xD;**


	5. Chapter 5

**Sooooo... I know that I haven't updated for just about _forever_, now. _; I'm sorry! :( But I've just been kind of _busy_, I guess. Well, lazy, too, of course. But mostly just busy. ;)**

**So, I decided to finish this off and update this story tonight! :D**

**OH OH OH! So I watched Sherlock: The Reichenbach Fall today, and, well, eee, just the _feels_! _; No spoilers for those of you who haven't seen it, of course. ;) But it IS on Canadian Netflix, at the very least.**

**Disclaimer: Don't own Marvel.**

**Yeah, well, enjoy! :D**

* * *

Chapter 5

Tony drove, headed for home, his mind on Loki. He had a million questions that he couldn't figure out the answers to, including:

1) How had he gotten here?

2) _Why_ was he here?

3) What were his plans?

4) …Which, actually, speaking of plans, did he actually _have_ any evil plans?

Tony was worried. Sorta. His worrying was rather rudely interrupted when JARVIS suddenly announced, "Incoming call, sir. One Nick Fury from SHIELD is on the line."

"Yeah, yeah, put him through," Tony muttered as he stopped at a traffic light.

Unfortunately for him, it had just turned red. He could have probably run through before it did, but he was slightly distracted when the call came in, so he quickly slammed on his brakes to legally come to a stop just before the white line.

However, not everyone was so lucky, or even all that law-abiding, apparently. The car in the lane beside him didn't slow down, ran the red light, and violently T-boned a car that had started moving when its light turned green. Tony briefly wondered why he wasn't more concerned. Then again, drivers in New York did stupid things every day. He was desensitized to it by now.

"Will do, sir." And Nick Fury was suddenly on the line.

"Hello there! You have reached the life model decoy of Tony Stark. Please—" But that was all that he was able to get out before the pissed off sounding guy on the other end of the line suddenly spoke over him, yelling in his valiant efforts to be heard. Tony, recognizing true courage when he saw it (that was sarcasm, by the way), immediately shut up.

"We have a situation here. It's kind of a big deal. We need you down here at headquarters, _now_." God, the way the man managed to sound so urgent was actually kinda scary.

"_Damn it,_" he muttered under his breath, and then he spoke up so that the director could actually hear him. "Well, you see, Nick, I'd love to help, but a major car accident just happened right in front of me and I think that I'm kinda stuck here for the time being—hey, actually, can it wait? I should be able to get there in an hour, if the proper authorities actually show up on time," he babbled, checking the time.

"We think Loki's back on Earth," Fury informed him in a grim tone.

_Well, no shit. Of course he's back on Earth. Just... not doing what you'd probably expect._ Tony thought these words, but he didn't say them. Instead, he just asked, "Really?"

"Well, no," Fury admitted, "But it _is_ important."

"Top-secret?"

"Yes, it is."

"Uh, good. Then it can probably wait until I get out of this traffic mess, which, hey, hopefully won't be too long. How about I come right over there as soon as I can?" He waited, hoping the answer would be the one he wanted.

"Damn straight you will," Nick Fury finally replied, and Tony released the breath he hadn't even realized that he'd been holding, and grinned out of the car's windshield. He stopped as soon as he realized just how terrible that probably looked.

"All righty, then! Gotcha. So I'll be there when I can. Catch ya later, Nick!" And he reached over to the right side of the car, swiped to the right on the windshield with one finger, and hung up.

He sighed, staring out at the extreme crappiness of the car crash in front of him. He was going to be here for a while, and he couldn't pay his way out of this one. He sighed, leaned over the dashboard, and brought up his previous Tetris game, unpausing it and starting to play.

* * *

Finally, approximately forty-two minutes later help arrived and cleared up the accident enough so that people currently waiting at the intersection could detour around it. (He was pretty sure that SHIELD had something to do with that; accidents were never usually cleaned up this fast.) Tony was in the left lane for his direction, but thankfully both lanes were temporarily designated right turning lanes and he was allowed to go. He stretched, the movement cricking some bones, after pausing and minimizing the Tetris game, hiding it at the very right side of the windshield so that he would not get distracted from his driving.

He headed straight through the city to the current NYC SHIELD headquarters. It didn't take him too long and soon he arrived outside of the building and parked in a pretty random parking spot. (Normally he might have one reserved, but they would probably disregard such a thing at SHIELD anyways, unless he was staff, which he had made sure that he (well, technically) wasn't.) He called to JARVIS, "Don't open up to anyone but me!" (ah, the joy of having super high tech security systems who could actually think for themselves and do a whole lot more than that) and walked inside, whistling happily. A guard glared at him as he walked through the front doors, which he, of course, ignored.

* * *

There was a normal government building in the front, but if you had high enough clearance you could get into the top floors, the basement floors, and the rooms at the back, all of which SHIELD currently occupied. Tony took another moment to admire their completely ineffective methods of keeping people out - honestly, as far as these things went, their method of stopping the bad guys and the curious civilians who might possibly wander in was essentially useless (well, maybe not the civilians; but if you wanted badly enough to get in you could, and he would know) - and then he stepped into the elevator whose door opened as soon as he stepped inside. And for a moment there was some discrepancy as to which floor he was going to, which was either one of the basement levels or the very top floor, but he pretty soon figured it out, because, unfortunately, he wasn't going down to a lab. He hit the button for the top floor and swiftly went up.

He emerged in the hallway and headed down to room 9602, where he could already hear raised voices and arguing. He sighed, leaning against the wall just outside of the room and tipping his head back.

_Oh, boy._ He too a deep breath and made a -180 degree turn, grinning as he entered the room.

"Hey, missed me?" he tossed out casually as he sauntered into the room and sat down in a comfortable chair. At least SHIELD had awesome comfy padded office chairs that rolled around on little wheels and spun around in a 360 degree circle. And it _had_ been his idea, he had to admit, but still.

"Mr. Stark; glad you could make it." Fury glared at him as he nodded in his direction in greeting. "We have important matters to discuss."

"Oooh, it is story time?" He clapped his hands together and leaned back in the chair. "Please, do continue. I love stories." The one-eyed man just ignored him and turned away.

"I don't think I'm feeling the love, here," Tony muttered. Steve, of course, picked this up and threw him a stern look over the table. Tony sighed, and cupped his chin in his right hand, which was being supported by his right elbow, which was leaning on the table, and sighed. He decided to just listen to Fury yak.

"So," the director announced in a rather commanding voice, "since Stark missed this, let me quickly give you all a recap." He shot Tony yet another withering glare, and although Tony just caught it with a glance and immediately looked away, it still made him shiver. Bruce looked his way and gave him a sympathetic glance. Tony just grimaced at him, and Bruce gave him a punch in the arm with a smile.

"It has been discovered that a man who fancies himself 'the next great Tony Stark'—" (Should I be flattered? Tony idly wondered.) "—is trying to develop an airborne, biological virus. It appears to be designed so that it will kill most people, severely cripple some others, and a select few will, in essence, develop any and all effects of the 'super soldier serum' like on Rogers, over here." He nodded at Steve. "It would appear that certain genetic patterns will dictate what the effects are." His piercing eye roamed across the room. "Any questions?"

"Yeah," Tony broke in. "Rogers, what's your blood type?"

Steve looked surprised. "I—uh—what?"

"Your _blood type_, Rogers. You know. What kind of blood you have? A, B, AB, O… you know."

"B-," Natasha quickly supplied. Steve glanced at her in surprise. "I read your file," she clarified.

"Well, B- is the third most uncommon blood type there is. Like, what, how many people have that? It's only two percent of Caucasians, if I remember correctly, and even _less_ in other groups. It might be the reason why the super soldier serum only worked on him. Perhaps that was it. And I'd say that this guy, whoever he is, wants to do something similar, based on blood type."

Steve looked vaguely perturbed, but resigned to the idea all the same.

Tony took a moment to look around the table while the rest of them digested his idea. Bruce was on his right side, Clint was on his left side, Natasha was next to him, Thor was leaning one elbow on the table across from her, Steve was in a chair across from Tony and Clint, kind of in between, and Fury stood imposingly at the head end of the table. He suddenly realized that Fury was watching him intently, as if waiting for a response on something, and he started as he realized that it was his turn to talk.

"What, where's my talking stick?" he snarked; however, when no one laughed, and the heat of Fury's glare only increased in intensity, he just gave a resigned sigh, and asked, "What else did I miss?"

Fury tossed him a flash drive, which he very deftly - obviously - caught. "You can read up on all the other pertinent information at home."

"Yep." He slid the flash drive quickly into his pocket.

"Now, Stark, your idea is great, but we need to come up with a plan of action to figure out just how we're going to take this guy down. This man is very volatile, and dangerous. Member of Mensa with an IQ of 172. So, I suppose I don't have to mention that he's highly intelligent," he snapped, looking at Tony, fixing with him with yet another sharp glare, and he raised his hands up in defense.

"Hey! I may be in Mensa too but I don't know the guy! He's not even anything like me!" he protested. "Come on, this is just unfair."

"The logic behind it is that you may be able to figure out his thought processes. I didn't come up with this idea, and quite frankly I think it's ridiculous, but it seems like a good idea to those who did."

"Then tell them that," Tony suggested.

"Can you at least try?" Fury sighed.

"And how do you expect me to do that, Director?" Tony fixed Fury with an intense gaze, one eyebrow quirked up meaningfully, leaning over the table in direction of the dark man.

"Just go to some social event he's on the guest list for," Fury sighed. "He's obviously not poor, or no one would care, so it shouldn't be too hard to figure out."

"Ah, gotcha." Tony clapped his hands together, and leaned back in his chair. He took out his phone and started typing out a message to Pepper. "Hey, just what was this guy's name, again?"

"James Bergenseller." With that, the SmartBoard looking thing on the wall behind Fury lit up and displayed a picture of the guy. He looked nerdy.

_Too nerdy,_ Tony thought. _Definitely not in the good way._

He put away the phone, leaned back, and steepled his fingers. "He reminds me of Justin Hammer. Very rich, and three times as stupid."

"If that's so, then we need to stop him. And fast," stated Fury simply.

"Yes. And I have a plan," Tony declared.

"Please tell me it's not '_attack_'," Steve muttered under his breath from across the table.

Tony shot him a grin before taking a deep breath. "No, but it does involve you. What we need to do is somehow break into the facility and get whatever it is this guy has. Research, virus, whatever he's got. Next, we need to test it on blood, human blood. Because if I'm right, and you know I always am, this is linked to the genetic makeup of peoples' blood."

"Now, that's all very fine and good, but what are you suggesting?" Fury broke in.

"Are you saying that we take this virus and inject it into _human_ subjects?" Natasha asked.

"No, no, no," Tony said, holding up a hand. "Well, actually, yes. That was part of the plan until a moment ago. But what I'm saying _now_ is that we just take as many different blood samples as we can, and expose them to the virus. Because if it _is_ linked to blood, any changes or mutations should theoretically happen there first."

"That's… actually a pretty good idea." Bruce spoke up for the first time, quietly, nodding. "Whether it's actually scientifically sound remains to be seen, however, but I think that it's a good place to start."

"Thank you, Doctor Banner!" Tony gestured to him with one hand. "See, at least _someone_ here supports my ideas." The doctor smiled wryly.

"Okay, well, since there doesn't seem to be any dissent, I'll make sure the location of the facility is found and as soon as we're ready, _you six are going out there_. Sound good?" Fury asked, looking at each of them in turn.

"Yeah, I have no complaints with that," Tony said quickly.

"Nor do I," Thor spoke up in a booming voice.

"I'm down for that," Clint said, at the same time as Natasha put in, "We'll do it."

Bruce just nodded, and Steve sighed and said, "Well, it certainly sounds like it's worth a try. Let's do it."

"Good." Fury turned back to the SmartBoard and announced, "You're all dismissed. Keep your phones on you, and make sure they're _turned on_."

_Will do,_ Tony thought to himself as he walked out of the room.

* * *

**Leave a review, if you feel like it. :) Hope you enjoyed the chapter! ^_^;**


	6. Chapter 6

**I am SO sorry that I haven't updated since, like, forever! ;_; But I finally decided to just ****_do_**** it today, ahaha... _; I've had a rather interesting day today!**

**While driving: I majorly misjudged my speed and could have hit some pedestrians, made a MAJOR fool out of myself in a parking lot, and found out that my mom's shoes are actually really good for manual shifting. All of the problems I had on the drive to my destination, but on the way back, I actually drove, like, perfectly. Who knew? :'D LOL. My life has been kind of hectic lately... _;**

**So, well, anyways. *cough* The circumstances of today have inspired me to update! Ahaha, I should have pedestrian near-misses (well, it wasn't actually that close; I'm just making a bigger deal out of it than it actually is, ahaha) and make a fool out of myself in parking lots (I can't park, ugh... _; lol) more often! :'D But, really; my mom says that I'm a better driver than most Canadians she's seen, so that's saying something, right? :) I have a friend whose driving style has influenced me far too much, and he's actually kind of bordering on dangerous. Lol. _;**

**But this week is going to be rather hectic for school, I'm going away for March break, which is not this coming week but the next one, and my driving test so that I can step up from my learner's permit to the secondary stage of my license is on March 20th, so my schedule is going to make it rather impossible to update for the next little while! :O But I think that I'll try to update yet again ****_at least_**** before April starts, so no worries, ahaha! ^_^;**

**Well, anyways: enough of my ranting; so, enjoy the chapter! :)**

* * *

Chapter 6

It was, of course, a risky endeavour, but as soon as Tony walked out of the SHIELD building he texted Loki, _Hey, do you know a guy named James Bergenseller?_

Almost immediately, the reply came. _Yes, I know of him. I may have met him, once or twice. Why do you need to know?_

Tony could almost hear the wariness in Loki's voice. He wondered what the demigod was thinking right now.

_Ah, SHIELD's looking for him… sorry, sorry if that bothers you. Just wondering if you have any information that will help?_ he quickly texted back.

_That was way too polite of me,_ he thought to himself, rolling his eyes.

A moment later, there was a reply. _You won't tell Thor?_

Tony grinned, thinking back to the first time Loki had invaded. He hadn't been very happy to see Thor then, and obviously he wasn't very enthusiastic about it now, either. Regardless, if Loki would help, he wouldn't tell Thor. Yet.

_You know, you're taking a big risk here,_ a voice in his head suddenly said. He raised both of his eyebrows as he took his car keys out of his pocket. He twirled the keys in his fingers as he approached his car, still looking down at his phone.

He unlocked the door of the car and hopped in, placing the phone in the dock that would connect it to the vehicle's computer. It was, of course, taking "hands-free talking" to a whole new level. It would revolutionize the industry… once he figured out how to get it to work properly without Jarvis, and get it patented. That was still a long way off. (Theoretically, he could get it done in less than a day, but he had other, more important projects to work on first.)

He turned the key in the ignition, and the car roared to life. "Hey, Jarv," he said, as he steered carefully out of the parking lot and into traffic.

"Yes, sir?" came JARVIS's voice over the in-car stereo system.

"Text Loki back for me, would you? Let me dictate."

"One moment, sir." A moment later, just as JARVIS had promised, he spoke again. "You may now proceed to dictate your text message."

Tony almost laughed. _Wow, so formal, JARVIS._ "No, I won't tell Thor," he said. "Just… when's a good time for you to meet up with me? We can talk then. Somewhere a bit out of the way, maybe, if you want? Actually, call me. I'm driving right now." He paused, and then added, "JARVIS, send it like that."

The AI repeated the message back to him and Tony nodded, satisfied. "Yeah, that sounds about right. Okay. Send."

"Sending message, Sir." Tony drove along in silence—well, relatively; he had music playing in the background—for the next two minutes, until JARVIS announced, "Incoming call from one Loki Odinson, sir."

Tony grinned and said, "Answer it."

Loki's voice filled the car in the next moment as he said, "Stark," calmly.

"Hey, Lokes! Good to hear your voice again!" Tony greeted him cheerfully, and he could practically _hear_ Loki's eye roll.

"It's not been that long since we last met," Loki said dismissively. "As I seem to remember, you accosted me this morning before I started working."

Tony raised his eyebrows, even though he knew Loki couldn't see it, and said, "Seriously, what is _with_ that? Why do you even need to work, anyway?"

"Stark…," Loki said warningly. "What did you want to talk to me about?"

"Well, want to meet up for lunch somewhere? Like, tomorrow, because I think I have something to do this evening?" Tony suggested. "Then you can tell me what you know about this Bergenseller dude, and I promise, I won't tell anyone, especially not Thor or, God forbid, _Fury_, that I know you're here." He paused. When there was no immediate reply from Loki, he tried again. "Sound good? Yeah? No? Come on; talk to me, Loki."

"I was merely thinking," Loki said haughtily.

"Yeah, sure; whatever, Reindeer Games," Tony laughed.

"That's a rather rude—and might I add totally _inaccurate_—nickname."

"Well, I like it."

A sigh. "Yes, of course you do." And then, a pause. And then: "There's a café not too far from your tower, a sandwich shop of sorts. I'm not really sure exactly how to call it, but it's called Sandwixtreme. We could meet there at around noon?"

"Jarvis, my calendar?" Tony requested, and Jarvis told him that he had a morning appointment the next day, but then nothing after that. "Ohhh-kay… how about 12:20, at that place you mentioned? I'm fairly sure I can find it. How does that sound?"

"That sounds just fine, Stark," Loki told him.

"Excellent!" Tony grinned. "It's a date!"

"A what?" Loki asked warily, and Tony almost cackled.

"Nothing you need to concern yourself about," he lied, grinning.

"Why don't I believe you?" Loki asked suspiciously, and Tony was worried for a second that he _would_ cackle. And he didn't even know how to cackle, so that was saying something.

"Whatever, Loki. You'll just have to have some faith in me. Talk to you later!"

"Good-bye, Stark," Loki said stiffly, and hung up. Grinning, Tony continued driving, singing along to his music as it filled the car once again.


End file.
